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| This Air China plane - rightly - refuses to pay! (image by Wiki) |
The Chinese government has made a very rational and wise decision:
China said on Monday it was forbidding its airlines from joining a European Union carbon emissions scheme to protect the climate. The companies now face fines or may even be barred from landing at EU airports. The dispute comes as the EU is looking to China to help tackle the euro debt crisis.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement on its website that the rules "contravene the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and international civil aviation regulations."
Since January 1, all airlines are required to buy certificates for the carbon dioxide they emit through landings and takeoffs in the European Union. Airlines that fail to comply face fines and may even be banned from landing at airports in the EU.
The China Air Transport Association (CATA) estimates that the EU scheme will cost Chinese airlines some $120 million in the first year alone, and that the amount could triple by 2020.
The dispute comes at a sensitive time for the EU, which is wooing China, a major holder of foreign reserves, to invest in bailout funds to help tackle the euro debt crisis. Chinese and EU leaders are due to hold a summit next week.
Read the entire article here
This is a fight that the European Union will lose. However, as there seems to be no limit at all for the stupidity of the EU decisions makers, it may take some time before the Europeans will be forced to withdraw their empty threats.
1 comment:
This seems foolish to the point of embarrassing to me. How on earth the EU came to apply this unilaterally I can't imagine, but it won't reflect well on those who pushed it through.
That at least may be some comfort.
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